Thursday, May 14, 2009

I'm kickin it new school now. Not really - I'm actually just talking about Abby going to a new school next year. You remember how I stressed over sending Abby to Kindergarten at a public school or a private school? Well, I did decide on the private school, since the Kindergarten was half-day. But now that full day school is just around the corner, and Avery is also about to start school, followed by Ethan in a couple years... I've just realized that we cannot keep paying to give our kids an education.

And so, Abby is heading off to public school for first grade. To ease my anxiety a little - oh yeah, and Abby's anxiety - Daniel, the kids, and I went to her new school last week to register her and to take a tour. The school is brand new, and has a cute little music room, art room, and a library. I'm actually excited that she will be going there, and that she'll be going there for a full day. I think that Abby will get to enjoy things like music class and art class more when she has more than 3 hours to her school day.

But, the issue of lunch still exists. I will not be the one feeding her, making sure she eats well, making sure she eats the good stuff before the snacky stuff... It's so hard to let your kids go in certain areas. For me, it's food. I won't know if she's eating nothing, a hotdog covered in frosting, or just a cookie for lunch. All I can do is pack it, or send money for it, and then the rest is up to her. I think I'm going to need to stock up on after-school snacks around here.

Also, Avery heads off to preschool this fall. Can you believe it? My little blue-eyed baby is going to school. I'm sad to see him go, but he is just so ready for it. I took him to his preschool to register him and let him visit the classrooms, and he wasn't at all afraid. He walked right up to everyone, talked like he had known them for years, and then went into the classrooms and exumed dinosaur bones (rotini pasta) from the sandbox like a professional palentologist.

This is the same preschool that Abby went to last year, so maybe he just feels at home there, you might say. But no, when we took Abby on the tour of her new school, he did the same thing. He was totally ready to join the second graders in music class, and make Mother's Day cards with the first graders. He walked around like he owned that school, even though he was only the second smallest kid in the entire building. That kid has guts, that's for sure. He's really not afraid of anything, other than Ethan's growling and the hand vaccuum.

So, now I'm trying to slowly let myself adjust to idea of having only one kid with me three days a week. That will be quite a change. I'm expecting to adjust to it around the time Ethan starts school, and then I'll have no kids all day. But still, the idea of having another baby hasn't completely left my mind...